Seeing the impending boom of digital technology, Anton Woolf, CEO of Argen Corp., conceived a plan to reinvent the company and its product offerings to meet the needs of the changing marketplace. The result? The Argen Digital Center.

Uhler Dental Supply showcased its new UDS Pour Acrylic, a dimensionally stable auto-polymer used to make full or partial dentures in alginate (Max Print) or hydrocolloid (New Flex) investment material. LAB DAY attendees were given samples to take home and evaluate the new shades. For more information, call 800-937-3753.

BEGO USA and EOS announced an exclusive North American partnership focused on using a proprietary laser-melting, 3D metal printing process to fabricate removable partial dentures and fixed crowns and bridges.

“We have a long-term collaborative relationship with EOS and we see the positive impact for our dental laboratory partners from this cooperation,” said Axel Klarmeyer, Global Chief Sales Officer at BEGO. “EOS is a manufacturing innovator across a wide spectrum of major industries. This know-how combined with BEGO’s dental expertise will assist our laboratory partners...

Though first developed in the 1950s by Arpad Nagy of Valplast, flexible partial dentures didn’t take off until the 1980s; as the cosmetic wave hit dentistry, dentists and patients alike looked for solutions that were both functional and esthetic.

Today, flexible dentures make up 20% of the average workload for full service and removable laboratories, according to LMT’s 2012 Removable Survey, and demand is on the rise: half of these labs are selling more flexible partials than they were five years ago.

Zirconia-reinforced materials are a new trend, and expanded options for pre-colored zirconia and ceramics for full contour restorations offer both efficiency and esthetics. Plus, a new type of material: a biocompatible, millable resin on which the final restoration can be built; there's no need for casting or pressing.

Forty-five percent of respondents to LMT's exclusive 2012 Removable Survey rate the market as good and 35% classify it as fair. The majority say their removable business in the first half of 2012 is level or just slightly up or down compared to all of 2011.

At one end of the spectrum is the 9% of survey participants who say the market is booming and that business is markedly up. "All areas of our removable department are up. We had a record May and July was not far behind. As far as fixed, we are down double digits," says Gary Iocco, Owner, Dimension Dental Design, Hastings, MN.

The majority of respondents to LMT's Small Lab Survey are enthusiastic about the outlook for their own businesses, calling their future "good" or "great." However, their prediction for the market segment as a whole isn't quite so rosy.

"For the next 20 years, 10,000 people will reach the age of 65 on a daily basis," said Max Sturm, President of Candulor, during a press conference at LAB DAY. "In addition, 12% of all dentures are now implant supported and we expect to see 6.5% growth in this area next year."

To meet this increasing demand and help laboratories fabricate esthetic and functional dentures, the company announced several new removable products, including:

• Bite Fork--an instrument for checking the correct position of the occlusal plane--has been reworked and is now available in a set with four removable vertical...

It was standing-room-only at DLOACâs annual CAD/CAM Symposium and Expo as nearly 300 laboratory owners and managers, outsourcing centers and manufacturers turned out for two days of lectures, demonstr

Despite OSHA regulations and recommendations from numerous industry groups, laboratories still report that many of their clients arenât disinfecting impressions and incoming cases. Should you be concerned?

By bringing fixed and removable technicians together in one department, industry leader Glidewell Laboratories has streamlined combination casework and dramatically enhanced communication.

Two heads are better than one. That simple axiom is the foundation of Glidewell Laboratories' combination case department, formed in 1996. Since then, the laboratory's combination caseload has increased 800% and now fabricates 1,000 ceramic or full cast restorations and 200 partial dentures related to a combination case per week.

The impetus behind the department—which now includes more than 100 C&B...

The specialty once considered to be the least glamorous is thriving. According to initial results of LMTâs 2008 Fee Survey, 58% of our denture lab respondents report an increase in profitability in the past two years, largely due to increased sales,

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Almost 50% of respondents to LMT’s Subcontracting Services Survey say there’s been an increase in the amount of work they’ve been sending out to be fabricated by other laboratories and/or manufacturers in the past five years.

LMT Communications delivers the business strategies, information, dental laboratory news and education that dental laboratory decision-makers need to succeed. Through LMT Magazine and our LAB DAY shows, LMT works to advance excellence in dental technology, enhance the products, services and communication of dental technicians, and give dental laboratory owners and managers the tools they need to flourish. Learn More »